Vacuum storage bag with zipper

ABSTRACT

A plastic storage bag has a storage area that is resealably closed by a zipper. The zipper is provided in a passage way that extends from an opening of the bag to the storage area. The zipper extends between first and second edge seams of the storage bag. Wider edge seams are provided in the passage way, particularly at the interface between the passage way and the zipper. The wider edge seams protect the edges of the bag and the edges of the zipper when opening the zipper.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to storage bags and in particular to storage bags with a resealable zipper.

BACKGROUND

Reusable plastic bags have been in existence for many years, a common use for which is as storage bags. In one particular storage bag application, i.e. as vacuum storage bags, plastic bags are provided with a vacuum port that allows air to be sucked from the contents of the plastic bag thereby minimizing the volume of the bag's contents for storage. Other applications for resealable plastic bags are well known.

The bag may be provided with many suitable closure mechanisms that allow access to the inner bag while providing a suitable seal, and in particular a vacuum seal, when the bag is in use. Zippers provide a common form of closure mechanism.

Though zippers may provide a strong mechanism and a useful pressure seal, it has been found that when many users open a bag having a zipper, they apply too much force. A zipper may suddenly release, and excessive force may be exerted on the flexible material of the bag around the ends of the zipper. This may weaken or rupture the bag.

SUMMARY OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Advantages of One or More Embodiments of the Present Invention

The various embodiments of the present invention may, but do not necessarily, achieve one or more of the following advantages:

the ability to open and reseal a storage bag;

provide a vacuum bag with a zipper opening;

the ability to absorb excess opening force on a zipper;

the ability to prevent damage to a storage bag when opening a zipper; and

provide a storage bag with a one-way valve.

These and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification, claims, and abstract.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In an embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a storage bag in which at least one wall is configured to define a storage area. A resealable zipper allows material to be placed in and removed from the storage area. The bag has a seam that extends inward of an end of the zipper to prevent the zipper from opening to the end.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a bag comprising a bounded storage area. A passage way provides access to the storage area. A zipper is disposed between the passage way and the storage area. The zipper has a width that is greater than a width of the passage way at an interface between the passage way and the zipper.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a plastic bag in which wall means defines storage means and access means to the storage means. Closure means provides sealing closure of the storage means from the access means. The access means defines a first width and the closure means defines a second width greater than a width of the access means at an interface between the closure means and the access means.

The above description sets forth, rather broadly, a summary of one embodiment of the present invention so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and contributions of the present invention to the art may be better appreciated. Some of the embodiments of the present invention may not include all of the features or characteristics listed in the above summary. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and will form the subject matter of claims. In this respect, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangement of the components as set forth in the following description or as illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is substantially a top plan view of one embodiment of the storage bag of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is substantially a side view of one embodiment of the storage bag of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is substantially a flowchart of a method for using a storage bag.

DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a storage bag, generally indicated in FIG. 1 by reference number 20. Storage bag 20 may be formed from a wall. The wall may comprise various kinds of materials with various kinds of physical properties, that may be selected by a person skilled in the art depending on the application of the bag. In one embodiment the wall comprises a thin flexible material, such as a plastic film. In one embodiment, the storage bag 20 may be formed from a single wall by overlapping the wall. In one embodiment the storage bag 20 may be formed by overlaying multiple sheets of the flexible material, i.e. multiple walls may be used to form the storage bag.

The storage bag 20 comprises a storage area 22 defined by seams 24, 26 and 27 and zipper 28. Seams 24, 26 and 27 may be made by attaching the flexible material together, such as by gluing or welding. In the case of welding, the flexible material may be welded by direct heat or by other techniques, such as sonic energy. Although storage bag 20 as shown is substantially a rectangular shape, it may be made in many other shapes; e.g., square, rectangular, round or polygonal.

Zipper 28 may comprise many different closure means that are well known in the art. In one example, zipper 28 comprises a plurality of flexible grooves and ridges that interlock each other and substantially prevent air and stored material from passing through the zipper. When engaged the zipper is strong enough to withstand a pressure differential between the inside and the outside of storage bag 20. The grooves and ridges may be separated to allow storage bag 20 to be opened and material to be taken out of or put into storage area 22 through access means such as passage way 34 that leads from an open end of the storage bag 20 to the storage area 22. The grooves and ridges may then be reengaged to seal storage area 22. Other closure means that include complementary press fit engagement will be apparent to a person skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed herein within the term zipper.

It has been found that when many users open a zipper, they apply too much force which may be conveyed to the edges of the zipper and/or the walls of the bag. This may weaken or rupture the bag with only the slightest perforation being required to destroy the vacuum integrity of the bag. The present invention helps to prevent this from occurring by providing seams 30 and 31 of the passage way 34 that extend inward past ends 50 and 52 of zipper 28 at least at an interface between the zipper 28 and the passage way 34. Seams 30 and 31 absorb excess force and prevent the force from being exerted on the weaker ends 50 and 52 of the zipper 28 and on the thinner seams 24, 26. The wider passage way seams 30, 31 may also prevent the zipper from opening to its maximum extent, i.e. to its ends 50, 52. This helps keep the side walls of the bag from being broken when the zipper is opened by a user. In one embodiment, the passage way seams 30, 31 extend inward of the ends 50, 52 of the zipper 28 by at least 5 mm.

The wider passage way seams 30, 31 restrict the degree to which the passage way 34 can be opened. In one embodiment, the passage way 34 is less than 95% of the width of the zipper 28. That is, the storage area 22 has a wider internal width than the passage way 34. However, since storage bags of the type described are typically filled with multiple smaller articles, the full volume of the storage area is available to be filled provided each article placed in the bag is smaller than the dimension of the passage way 34.

In one embodiment, the passage way seams 30, 31 are contiguous with the respective edge seams 24, 26 of the storage area 22. The passage way edge seams 30, 31 may extend from the zipper 28 along the length of the passage way 34 to the open end of the storage bag 20. In one embodiment, the wider seams 30, 31 may extend beyond the zipper 28 such that they extend partially into the storage area 22. In one embodiment, the wider seams 30, 31 may be provided in only the vicinity of the ends of the zipper 28.

The seams 30, 31 may be formed in the same step as the seams 24, 26. For example, if a hot pressing welding process is used, a wide seam press may be provided to form seams 30, 31 and a narrow seam press may be provided to form seams 24, 26. If a hot rolling process is used, then the narrow seams 24, 26 may be formed with a narrow width roller before switching to a wider roller to form the wider seams 30, 31. Alternatively, the seams 30, 31 may be formed in a distinct processing step from the seams 24, 26. Other techniques for forming the wide and narrow seams will be apparent to a person skilled in the art.

In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a tear-off end 54 that may be useful in some applications for providing a disposable seal. For example, the present invention may be used to sell packaged food in a retail environment. The food may be inserted into storage bag 20 and tear-off end 54 may be formed by gluing or welding the flexible material. This may provide a more tamper evident or tamper preventative seal than using a zipper closure alone. When a customer purchases the package, the customer may open storage bag 20 by tearing or cutting tear-off end 54 off of the bag. Notches 33 and 32 and/or a partially perforated tear line may be provided for helping the customer remove tear-off end 54. The customer may then use zipper 28 to reseal storage bag 20.

As seen in FIG. 2, the present invention may be used with a vacuum pump 42 or other suction device to remove air from storage area 22. When storage bag 20 is loaded, it may rest on lower surface 44. Vacuum pump 42 may be any of a large number of devices that are well known in the art for providing a source of negative pressure. Vacuum pump 42 may be electrically powered by batteries (not shown) or standard alternating current wall current (not shown). Vacuum pump 42 connects to a hose or tube 40, which in turn connects to one way valve 36. One way valve 36 may be any of a number of different devices that are well known. One suitable type of valve is used with coffee vacuum bags. These valves may be installed by gluing or welding the valve to the inside of storage area 22. A perforation may then be made to the flexible material where the valve is attached to allow air to be evacuated from storage area 22. Valve 36 allows air to be drawn out of storage area 22 when a relative negative pressure is applied. When the negative pressure is removed, the valve closes and air is substantially prevented from flowing back into storage area 22. Tube 40 may be directly coupled to valve 36 or a suction cup may be provided on the end of tube 40 that covers valve 36. The flexible material used for storage bag 20 may be embossed with a plurality of crisscrossing grooves. These grooves, provided on a surface of the wall that forms an inner surface of the storage area 22, allow air to be drawn from the bag when a negative pressure is applied.

A method for using the storage bag 20 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and to the flowchart 100 of FIG. 3. In normal use, material to be stored is inserted into storage area 22 (step 101). Zipper 28 is then closed (step 102), normally by squeezing two sides of the zipper together. If the storage bag 20 is to be evacuated, tube 40 is then attached to valve 36 and vacuum pump 42 is activated. Vacuum pump 42 then removes air from storage area 22 until a predetermined pressure is reached or a predetermined time has passed. Storage bag 20 may then be placed in an appropriate location for storage. At step 103, a user may open the storage bag 20 by separating the zipper, e.g. by applying a separating force to the walls of the passage way 34. The zipper 28 is separated up to a limit defined by the passage way seams 30, 31. If the zipper 28 suddenly releases or the user otherwise applies excess force, then the excess force may be absorbed by the passage way seams 34 (step 104). The zipper 28 may be resealed and the process may be repeated.

Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given. 

1. A storage bag comprising: (A) at least one wall configured to define a storage area; (B) a resealable zipper, wherein when the zipper is open, material may be placed in and removed from the storage area, the zipper comprising at least one end; and (C) at least one seam extending inward of the at least one end and preventing the zipper from opening to the at least one end.
 2. The storage bag of claim 1 wherein: (A) the zipper comprises: (a) a first end; and (b) a second end; and (B) the at least one seam comprises: (a) a first seam extending inward of the first end from a first edge of the storage bag; and (b) a second seam extending inward of the second end from a second edge of the storage bag.
 3. The storage bag of claim 2 comprising: (A) an opening; and (B) a passage way extending from the opening to the storage area, the zipper defining a limit of the passage way.
 4. The storage bag of claim 3 wherein at least one of the first seam and the second seam extends from the zipper toward the opening.
 5. The storage bag of claim 3 comprising a disposable seal that seals the passage way.
 6. The storage bag of claim 3 wherein the first seam defines a first edge of the passage way and the second seam defines a second edge of the passage way.
 7. The storage bag of claim 6 wherein: (A) the first seam defines a first passage way edge seam and the second seam defines a second passage way edge seam; (B) the storage area is defined by a first storage area edge seam that is substantially contiguous with the first passage way edge seam and a second storage area edge seam that is substantially contiguous with the second passage way edge seam; and (C) the first passage way edge seam is wider than the first storage area edge seam and the second passage way edge seam is wider than the second storage area edge seam.
 8. The storage bag of claim 7 wherein a width of the passage way between the first passage way edge seam and the second passage way edge seam is less than the width of the zipper.
 9. The storage bag of claim 7 wherein a width of the passage way between the first passage way edge seam and the second passage way edge seam is less than the 95% of the width of the zipper.
 10. The storage bag of claim 7 wherein the at least one wall comprises at least one wall of a plastic film.
 11. The storage bag of claim 1 wherein the at least one seam extends at least 5 mm inwards of the at least one end.
 12. The storage bag of claim 1 further comprising a one way valve in pneumatic communication with the storage area, wherein when a negative pressure is applied to the one way valve, air may be removed from the storage area.
 13. The storage bag of claim 1 further comprising a tear-away portion that provides a disposable seal.
 14. A bag comprising: (A) a bounded storage area; (B) a passage way providing access to the storage area; and (C) a zipper disposed between the passage way and the storage area; wherein a width of the zipper is greater than a width of the passageway at an interface between the passage way and the zipper.
 15. The bag of claim 14 wherein a width of the storage area is greater than a width of the passage way.
 16. The bag of claim 14 wherein the width of the passageway is defined by at least one seam, the at least one seam extending inward from an edge of the bag to a point inward of an end of the zipper.
 17. The bag of claim 14 wherein: (A) the storage area is defined by a first storage area edge seam and a second storage area edge seam; (B) the zipper extends between the first storage area edge seam and the second storage area edge seam; (C) the passage way is defined by a first passage way edge seam and a second passage way edge seam; and (D) the first passage way edge seam is wider than the first storage area edge seam and the second passage way edge seam is wider than the second storage area edge seam.
 18. The bag of claim 14 comprising at least one wall of a plastic film, the at least one wall configured with at least one seam to define the storage area and the passage way.
 19. The bag of claim 14 further comprising a one way valve in pneumatic communication with the storage area, wherein when a negative pressure is applied to the one way valve, air may be removed from the storage area.
 20. A plastic bag comprising: (A) wall means defining storage means and access means to the storage means, the access means defining a first width; (B) closure means providing sealing closure of the storage means from the access means, the closure means defining a second width; (C) wherein a width of the closure means is greater than a width of the access means at an interface between the closure means and the access means.
 21. The plastic bag of claim 20 further comprising seam means that absorbs excess force exerted when opening the closure means.
 22. A method of storing at least one item in a storage bag having a zipper closure, comprising not all necessarily in the order shown: (A) placing the item in the storage bag; (B) sealing the storage bag; (C) allowing the zipper to be opened by pulling the zipper apart; and (D) preventing damage to the bag by absorbing excess force applied from the opening of the zipper.
 23. The method of claim 22 wherein the excess force is absorbed by at least one seam.
 24. The method of claim 23 wherein opening the zipper comprises opening the zipper to a limit defined by the at least one seam, the at least one seam extending inward of an end of the zipper.
 25. The method of claim 22 further comprising opening a storage area to a first width and opening a passage way leading to the storage area to a second width less than the first width. 